Needle dispenser



Oct. 15, 1968 c. H. BARR, SR.. ET AL 3,405,841

NEEDLE DI SPENSER Filed Dec. 30, 1966 INVENTORS.

United States Patent O 3,405,841 NEEDLE DSPENSER Courtland H. Barr, Sr. and James W. Lucas, Los Angeles,

Calif., assignors to Courtland Laboratories, Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation of California Filed Dec. 30, 1966, Ser. No. 606,449 8 Claims. (Cl. 221-24) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present patent describes a novel needle dispenser apparatus having a closure capable of containing a plurality of needles stacked therein, an opening in said closure through which said needles may be individually dispensed, slide means within the closure slidable toward said opening and adapted to engage an intermediate portion of each needle individually, a pusher in said closure for carrying said plurality of needles and urging said needles toward said slide means, and trigger means projecting from said closure and being operably connected to said slide means whereby said slide means may be made to individually dispense the needles through the opening.

This invention relates to a novel needle dispenser apparatus.

Thin hollow needles are widely used in blood sampling devices, hypodermic syringes and the like. Since the needle is inserted into the body of the patient, it is absolutely essential that the sterility of the needle be preserved. To maintain sterility, various types of needle packages and dispensers have been devised which are intended to protect the needle from contamination, and

at the same time to facilitate the unwrapping of the needle at the time it is ready to be inserted in a blood sampling device or hypodermic syringe. rl`he needle dispensers presently available normally are adapted to contain a single needle. These individual needle dispensers are intended to be discarded after the single needle packaged in it has been removed.

While the one-needle type dispenser is quite inexpensive, the fact that it is used for only one needle renders it relatively expensive in the nal analysis, since every needle requires the expenditure of a dispenser. Various suggestions have been made for needle dispensers capable of containing a plurality of needles and dispensing needles one at a time. However, the requirements for such a dispenser device are rather severe. A multi-needle device must be less expensive than the cost of packaging the number of needles it is capable of holding in individual packaging units. Also, the multi-needle unit device must be simple and foolproof in operation, have little or no tendency to dull or burr the ends of the needle during the dispensing operation and, of course, be capable of maintaining7 the needles within it in a bacteria-free condition until the needles are used.

Accordingly, it is the principal object of the present invention to provide a novel needle dispenser apparatus which is simple and foolproof in operation, low in cost, free of any tendency to dull or burr the needle ends during dispensing and capable of maintaining the needles in a bacteria-free condition during storage.

More particularly, it is lan object of the present invention to provide a novel needle dispenser apparatus wherein a large number of needles may be safely and aseptically packaged within a device which is inexpensive to manufacture and simple to operate.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a needle dispenser apparatus which is particularly adapted for the direct injection of needles into blood sampling units and hypodermic syringes.

3,445,841 Patented Oct. 15, 1968 It is also an object of the invention to provide a needle dispenser capable of one-handed operation.

These and other objects and advantages of our invention will become more apparent from the detailed description which follows, considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FlGURE l is a side cross-sectional view of the novel needle dispenser apparatus of the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a sectional View taken along the line 2-2 of FIGURE l.

FIGURE 2A is a sectional view taken along the line 22 in FlGURE l with element 50 removed.

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3 3 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged perspective view with a portion broken away of the underside of the slide device forming part of the upper portion of the device depicted in FIGURE l.

The injector of the present invention is generally of a pistol shaped configuration having casing 10 which is made up of a mating pair of molded, stamped or otherwise formed pieces 12 and 14. The needles 16 are maintained in the dispenser in a stack and rest upon pusher 1S. Upward force on pusher 18 is continually supplied by a spring 29. The actual ejection of the needles is provided by slide element 22 operating in grooves 21 and 23 which engages the intermediate obtuse portion of the needle at its end 24. Slide element 22 also has an undercut groove 26 therein for receiving the one straight portion of the needle without actually contacting the sharpened end thereof. The movement of element 22 is provided by the operation of trigger 28 which is connected by pivot 3l) to bell crank 32. The bell crank is aiiixed to either element l2 0r 14 by iixed pivot 34. The bell crank 32, in turn, is adapted to be received in internal slot 36 within slide element 22. As the bell crank 32 is pivoted about the pivot 34, it engages in the internal surface of slot 36 moving element 22 forward whereby end 24 of element 22 engages the intermediate obtuse portion of the needle 16 moving it forward and out of the opening 38.

The forward part of the top needle in the stack rests against a different plane than the rear part. This allows element 22 to act as a stop for the next needle while dispensing one.

As the bell crank 32 moves element 22 forward the trigger 28 comes to rest against stop 40. The trigger upon release of the pressure thereon is returned to its original position by Wishbone `spring 42 which is xably retained by pin 44 and held in place by pin 46 as it engages the end of triger 29 at point 48. Meanwhile, as one needle has been thus removed, the needle immediately underlying it is automatically moved up into undercut 26 due to the force of spring 20 acting on pusher 18 which in turn raises the entire stack of needles within the injector. In this manner the device is then again ready for operation.

The closure means 50 is an Optional feature, although an important one, since it serves to close opening 38 when the device is not in use. This is very important in the maintenance of sterility. When closure means 50 is present, element 22 is provided with projection 52 having a front sloping surface 54 and a rear sloping surface 56. The closure means 50 has a complementary sloping surface on its underside and is pivotally restrained from forward movement by pivot S8. Thus, as element 22 is moved forward by bell crank 32, sloping surface 54 engages the closure means 50 causing it to be rotated about pivot 58 and thereby lift it away and above opening 38 to permit passage of a needle. Upon release of the pressure on -trigger 28, the element 22 is returned to its original position as has already been described, and sloping surface 56 again engages the closure means 50 rotating about pivot 58 to thus again bring closure means 50 into position whereby opening 38 is eifectively closed from the external atmosphere.

Alternately, the means for returning means S to a position covering opening 38 may be provided by a simple spring located in area 60, engaging the interior surface of casing and the top surface of means 50. Spring 60 replaces rear sloping surface 56 and its matching protrusion on means 50.

The structure 62 surrounding opening 38 is provided to `engage directly with the blood sampling device described in assignees copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 240,553, tiled Nov. 28, 1962, now abandoned, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. However, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the structure 62 may be eliminated without departing from the essence of the present invention since the needle dispenser apparatus of this invention is adapted for the injection of needles into a great variety of blood sampling and hypodermic syringe devices.

It can be seen that in the present device, the needles are eectively maintained in a sterile condition until ready for use, since the needles are not in contact with the atmosphere during storage. The needles are dispensed by the device without manual contact with the needle and without the use of any auxiliary tools or the like. Normally, the dispenser can be easily operated with one hand. This permits the other hand to hold and lock the device, i.e., a blood sampling unit, receiving the needle. Moreover, because the pushing force required to remove the needles from the dispenser in no way results in any type of force being applied to the sharpened ends of the needle, there is no chance of the dulling or burring of the needle `at any time during storage or operation. This represents a substantial improvement over the various prior art devices.

The present apparatus also provides many other advantages including the fact that virtually all of the parts, with the exception of the springs, may be fabricated from a plastic material utilizing ordinary molding and forming techniques. Thus, the cost of materials of construction is minimal. The apparatus is easy to assemble. The narrow slit 64 below spring 20 allows a thin extension (not shown) on pusher 18 to pass through spring 20 and have a larger section outside the slit. After Ithe assembly of halves 12 and 14, the protruding part is cut off, allowing the spring to press against pusher 18 and needles 16. The device is also reliable in operation since the operation and connection of the various moving parts is simple in nature. Thus, there is little or no chance of a malfunction during -the operating life of the device.

The foregoing drawings and description are simply illustrative embodiments of this invention. Many variations and modiiications of the inventive concept will become apparent to those skilled in the art. Thus, it is intended that it be limited only by the lawful scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A novel needle dispenser apparatus comprising a closure capable of containing a plurality of needles in stacked relationship therein, an opening in said closure through which said needles may be individually dispensed, slide means within said closure slidable toward said opening and adapted to engage an intermediate portion of each needle individually, a pusher in said closure for carrying said plurality of needles and urging said needles toward said slide means, and trigger means projecting from said closure and being operably connected to said slide means whereby said slide means may be made to individually dispense said needles through said opening.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the inner end of said trigger is movably connected to one end of a lever which rotates around a fixed pivot connected to said closure, and the other end of said lever engages a slot in the rear portion of said slide means.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the end of said trigger also engages a return means which operates to return the trigger to the original position after the dispensing of a needle.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the pusher is operated by a coil spring positioned between the underside of said pusher and the bottom of said closure.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the said opening for the passage of the needles is covered by a closure means.

6. A novel needle dispenser package comprising a pistol-shaped housing, within said housing a plurality of needles in stacked relationship, said needles each having an obtuse portion intermediate end portions, an opening in said housing through which said needles may be individually dispensed, slide means within said housing slidable toward said opening and engaging the intermediate obtuse portion of the uppermost needle within said housing, a pusher in said housing carrying said plurality of needles and urging said needles toward said slide means, a trigger' projecting from said closure, a lever connected by a fixed pivot to said housing, one end of said lever being movably connected to the inner end of said trigger and the other end engaging a slot in the rear to said slide means whereby said slide means may be made to individually dispense needles through said opening in said housing by inward force on said trigger.

'7. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein said slide element is provided with a projection having a front sloping surface, and said closure means has a complementary sloping surface on its underside and is pivotally restrained from forward movement whereby when said slide element is moved forward by said lever, the forward sloping surface engages said closure means causing it to be rotated about its pivot and be lifted away from said opening in said closure to permit passage ofthe needle.

8. The apparat-us of claim 5 wherein said slide element is provided with a projection having a rear sloping surface, and said closure means has a cooperating sloping surface on its underside to close said closure means upon release of pressure on said trigger means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,184,153 5/1916 Weisner 221--248 2,383,207 8/ 1945 Morrell 221--232 2,419,409 4/ 1947 Long 221-232 X 2,620,250 12/ 1952 Pierson 221232 FOREIGN PATENTS 75,002 1 1/ 1918 Austria. 544,687 9/ 1922 France.

WALTER SOBIN, Primary Examiner. 

